"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."
"A prince, therefore, must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and confident; for, with a very few examples, he will be more merciful than those who, from excess of tenderness, allow disorders to arise, from whence spring murders and rapine; for these as a rule injure the whole community, while the executions carried out by the prince injure only one individual. And of all princes, it is impossible for a new prince to escape the name of cruel, new states being always full of dangers."
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Source: The Prince. Book by Niccolò Machiavelli, ch. 17, as translated by Luigi Ricci (1903), 1513.
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